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Resolve to live a Healthy Lifestyle

It’s 31st of December, 2016…a few hours to January 2017, and as is characterized by every last day of the year, people will be trooping into churches to cross over, jump over, fly over or slither into the new year. All sorts of resolutions will be made for the new year, but we all know most of these resolutions vanish even before we enter the third week of January. Some people on the other hand, are able to make resolutions and stick to them. In making your resolutions for the new year, I would like to strongly urge you to consider adding this to your resolutions ‘I WANT TO LIVE A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE’..

Generally when talking about exercising and eating healthily, most of us think its a luxury that we cannot afford at this point in our lives, but believe me if you don’t take care of your body now, you would spend far more money, resources and time in the future on it and unfortunately, you may not even be able to enjoy the fruits you toiled for with your youth. I see a lot of older men and women paying huge sums of money to go to dieticians and physiotherapists to tell them information they might have had but ignored in their youth. But its never too late to start and commit to living a healthy lifestyle.

It is quite unsettling to see men in their 20s and 30s developing ‘Pot Bellies’ as a result of bad eating habits, sedentary lifestyles and drinking all sorts of liquids. Another disturbing phenomenon is seeing the kinds of foods people take in at unholy hours unaware of the repercussions on their bodies now and in the future. You may be so focused on developing spiritually, intellectually and emotionally that you forget about the body, but remember it’s in the body that they all dwell.

Here are some tips on healthy living; I believe as you start to commit to some or all of these, you will begin to see improvements in all other aspects of your life, as the mind thrives and works at it’s best in a healthy body.

Drink more water; the importance of water to the body cannot be overemphasized. In one of my earlier posts ” 10 Incredible reasons why you should drink more water“, the various functions of water in our bodies are mentioned. Water is life they say, literally that is true. We can survive for 3 weeks without food but only 3 days without water. Drinking enough water prevents headaches, cancers, aids in digestion, helps reduces joint pains and maintains normal bowel movement among many others. Try to drink at least 8 glasses or 3 liters of water daily.

Get enough sleep; research shows that when you don’t get enough rest, you compensate by eating more, usually junk food. Getting enough sleep is essential to your health and your mind performing at it’s peak during the time you’re awake.

Exercise; exercise regularly, not just once in a while. Research has shown that exercising daily brings tremendous health benefits, including increase of life span, lowering of risk of diseases, higher bone density and weight loss. You don’t necessarily have to go to the gym to exercise, pick exercises you enjoy, involve yourself in some sports. Visit here for some common exercises you can do indoors.

Eat more vegetables; almost all vegetable are alkaline forming foods, ideally, our diets are supposed to be comprised of 80% alkaline forming foods and 20% acid forming foods. This is to help maintain the pH balance in the body. An imbalance in the pH results in a myriad of health complications. One of my earlier posts outlined these extensively, you can read that here.

Cut down on processed foods; Many processed foods contain a high amount of salt content, which leads to higher blood pressure and heart disease. Processed foods are anything that is not in its raw form. Ideally, these should comprise just 20% of our diet.

Cut out ‘soft’ drinks and caffeine. Drinks with caffeine are diuretics, this means they speed up the rate of urine production. Taking soft drinks does not replace the intake of water, neither do they perform the functions of water. They rather hamper its functions. Furthermore, they are unhealthy, cause weight gain, contain artificial stimulant, among other reasons. So instead of soft drinks, try going for some freshly squeezed fruit juice or just plain water.

Avoid alcohol; Like caffeine, alcohol is a diuretic. Not only that, alcohol is repeatedly proven to have negative effects on your body and health, impacting the proper functioning of our brain, liver, lungs, and other major organs.

Hangout with healthy, positive people; It is said that you are an average of 5 people you spend most time with. So try spending time with healthy people with healthy habits you can emulate. Hanging out with people with positive outlook on life infuses into you the same attitude, and this goes a long way to keep you physically and mentally healthy.

These are a few tips that would go a long way in helping you begin or continue living a healthy life. Also, try and know your blood group and find out foods that are good for your blood group and those that are not. Ultimately, you know yourself the best, pay more attention to your body, observe how it reacts to the kinds of foods you eat, know how many hours of sleep is enough for you to wake up feeling energized.

Feel free to leave any questions and comments, thanks for reading. Happy New Year!